Hallo again, A problem I have played with many times ( and have seen posted as well) How to model and texture a nice realistic looking eye. Im not necessarily interested in Stunning but just a darn good eye. Could anyone share some techniques on texture and material tips on the pupil/ iris/ cornia and perhaps some of the modeling tips that follow allong. Just the standard sphere never seems enough even with texture. what ive tried im not happy with. Also (without scripting) what is a good setup for pupil dialation?
You have to realize that the eye is not a perfect sphere shape. The pupil has a raised lens shape which helps create that sparkle in the eye.
One way to model that is after you make a NURBS spere, rotate it so that the pole points forward instead of upward, and then move some of the pole UVs forward creating the bulge.
I'm sure there's some eye cut-throughs available on the net that show the exact shape, but the bulge starts about where the white stops, and it's not a very big bulge.
Heya all, Thanks for the reply Fess but I want to make a "darn good eye" hehe. A sphere i suppose is an obvious start but I was thinking a bit beyond that with the pupil, cornia, iris, etc. When you look into someones eye (or your own i suppose) you see a god awefull amount of detail. explosion of color and fibers almost as entertaining to look at as a lavalamp. My question is more of how to achieve that depth of detail. One good bit i found the other night is on http://www.computerarts.co.uk/tutorials/ty...al.asp?id=23082 The modeling idea behind that tutorial I think is what im looking for, but the texturing im still uncertain of. What shaders are best used on the cornia or the iris? I take it for granted that theyre stuck in my head... when looking at the screen no lighting, reflection, texture looks even close to the real thing. Any render tree tips?
Model the eye in 3 separate parts: the main part is a sphere that has it's tip cut-off to show a hole the size of the iris. the second part is the iris itself, which should be a disc, and the third part will represent the transparent bulge that cover the eye. By doing this you can put an iris texture on the flat iris part, and by making the cornea diffract (bend the rays) you will have something more lifelke.
Look at the way the eye in dolls are made, the lens of the eye is a plastic or glass piece, with the iris being a flat disc painted on the other side.
hope this helps...
Olivier Ozoux, SOFTIMAGE Special Projects
The opinions expressed in this forum are my own, and might not represent's Avid or SOFTIMAGE official position on the subject.
it's a bit Maya orientated, but I tried to make it as non-software specific as possible, so that you could get the just of the article and techniques in any package.
